


Patchwork

by ghostystarr



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Friendship, M/M, Post-Canon, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 06:49:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5995603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostystarr/pseuds/ghostystarr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'It's as though Nico spent years thinking he could never stitch his broken pieces back together and all the while Will was handing him the needle.' Solangelo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Patchwork

**Author's Note:**

> Schule ist schwer. Schreiben ist schwer. Leben ist schwer. Ich will Pizza.  
> ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

It always starts the same.

Nico’s running. He doesn’t know from who or to where, but his lungs are on fire and his legs are slowing. Some unknown weight is dragging him down and the same paralyzing fear that was once all he could feel comes rushing back. For a moment, there’s hope, a light shining above him, and Nico thinks this time he’ll be saved. This time someone will come. But nobody does, and he’s falling, falling, falling back headlong into the dark pit filled with tortured souls, and the light disappears.  Then he wakes up covered in a cold sweat and feeling as though a thousand pieces of himself are missing.

Months have passed since the fight with Gaea ended and the prophecy of the Seven was completed. Months and months and still Nico can’t chase away the feeling that someone is watching him, waiting for him to slip up, wanting to drag him right back to Tartarus.

It wasn’t always this bad. He’s been busy. Things never really slowed down directly after Gaea’s defeat. Quests continued, monsters still came, and then the great Apollo fiasco twisted camp upside down. Now things are quiet. Now things are catching up to him and old wounds that never quite healed are being torn apart again.

He falls back asleep with the light on.

With the morning comes relief. He hulls himself out of his cabin and to the dining pavilion. Most of the campers are still sleeping, but he glances at the Apollo table out of pure habit. Only a few campers are there, prodding at their breakfast uninterestedly. They’ve been quiet without their head counselor for the past few weeks.

It shouldn’t bug him that Will Solace is out on a quest. It shouldn’t but it _does_ because Nico should be out there, too. Solace lacks that guttural instinct that most demigods possess. His first reaction to danger isn’t to attack, but to lower his weapon and talk. That’s not to say that he isn’t a good fighter – because Nico remembers Manhattan and he remembers Will leading his cabin through monster-covered streets and the way his arrows sailed through the air. However, Will doesn’t fight if he can help it and that inherent _goodness_ about him makes Nico worry.

Besides, if he could outlet some of this anxiety in him maybe he wouldn’t feel so stripped, exposed. Every new night is tearing another layer away, each dream digging another hole, and now he feels so scattered all of the time. A quest would do him some good.

He could just go. No one has ever stopped him before, and he still pops over to Camp Jupiter from time to time when he misses Hazel. But it’s different now. People are waiting for him here. _He’s_ waiting for people here. And Nico did the stupid thing and promised he would be here when Will came back. And he is going to be come back. Nico tells himself this repeatedly. Will will return and he’ll have figured out everything and the next step can continue. _Then_ Nico will be able to see some action again.

He says a quick prayer to his father and dumps his leftover cereal into the fire.

He spends most of his day at the training grounds. Already his muscles feel too loose and his movements are just a split-second slower than they used to be. He spars with a few other campers and teaches the younger ones a few moves. It’s the only time he doesn’t feel so fragile.

He eats dinner with Clovis and the rest of the Hypnos cabin, but he doesn’t talk much. He just pushes around the food with his fork and avoids the questioning glances Clovis shoots at him.

Piper finds him afterwards and they sit on the porch steps of the Big House for a long time, not talking but understanding. She has people she’s waiting for, too.

“No word from Jason?” he asks after a long silence and Piper blows out a frustrated exhale.

“He said he’d Iris message me two days ago.”

Nico doesn’t say anything at first because he knows what that usually means. Then again, Jason is constantly finding himself in the middle of a serial shit-storm of unfortunate events so it wouldn’t really surprise him if he got delayed. He knows Piper is fearing the worst, and Nico knows how it feels to be dangling right over the edge of despair. “He’ll call,” he says certainly and a smile weaves its way onto her face.

“Yeah,” she says. “I know.” She pauses. “And Will?”

 _A completely different situation_ , Nico wants to say. He’s allowed to worry about his friend, but the look in Piper’s eyes says that Will means more to Nico than friendship and Nico isn’t ready to even entertain that idea. He just shakes his head.

“He’ll be back soon,” she says just as certainly as Nico did. “And still no word on what his quest actually is _about?”_

“All I know is what he told me,” Nico responds, twisting his ring impatiently. He remembers Will coming to the Hades cabin late one night, rain falling slowly in the summer heat, rapping on the door until Nico opened up.

_“I’ve got to go,” Will says. “There’s a quest.”_

_“And they picked you?” Nico teases, a crooked grin slipping off of his face the moment Will’s eyes dropped. “Er, I mean, I’m sure you’ll do great.”_

_“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Will mutters, but there’s still a smile on his face. “I’ll remember that when I come back and give my victory speech.”_

_Nico snorts and leans against his door frame, waiting for Will to go ahead and ask, already listing things they’ll need in his head, fingers already itching to hold his sword and get out there again. “So what’s the deal? What do the gods need?”_

_Will shakes his head. “Actually it has to do with that sickness that’s going around.”_

_Nico raises an eyebrow. “You mean the one that got Kayla?”_

_“Yeah. We’re up to twelve campers now and it just doesn’t make sense. No matter what we try they just seem to get worse and I can’t sit back and watch…” His hands tighten into fists. Nico feels something squeeze painfully in his chest. “I’ll be back soon. It has to be some sort of curse. And all curses have a cure. I know we can heal them.”_

_“You can,” Nico interjects immediately. Will meets his gaze and his blue eyes are full of so many insecurities and Nico feels like he’s staring at himself. “You can,” he says again because now that’s all he can do._

_Will gives him a small smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes but the gratitude is still there. “Anyways, I just… wanted to say bye and all that.”_

_“Aren’t you allowed any companions?” Nico asks, surprised._

_Will nods. “Cecil and Lou Ellen are coming with me.”_

_Nico doesn’t know why that hits him so hard but it does. A part of him jealously burns that Will picked Cecil and Lou Ellen over him, someone whose life has basically been one giant quest since he left the Lotus hotel almost three years ago. Another part of him feels rejected, like Will has just told him he doesn’t want him. But mostly he just feels something akin to panic. He doesn’t want to let Will go out there unless Nico can be there as a sword and shield. “Oh,” he says._

_Will opens his mouth like he wants to say more, but nothing comes out. It takes him a few more tries before he just sighs and hangs his head. When he speaks again, Nico knows it’s not what he wanted to say. “Take care of them?” he asks and Nico knows who he’s referring to. “Please?”_

_“Yeah,” is all he says and Will smiles briefly at him before his doctor face comes on and Nico has to really try not to tone him out._

_“But don’t hang around them too often! We still don’t know if this thing is contagious so be careful. My siblings can handle the medical parts. I just need you to… if something happens to camp while I’m gone…”_

_“I’ll be here,” Nico promises._

_Will’s shoulders relax and he nods. “Thanks,” he whispers. “I, uh, should go, but… I’ll be back soon, okay?”_

_“Right,” Nico affirms. For a moment, it looks like Will wants to hug him goodbye and Nico almost wishes he does, but Will is already backpedaling down the Hades cabin steps. “Good luck,” he calls out, fingers tightening on the doorframe._

_Will beams at him. “I’m gonna need it!” he calls back and waves in farewell._

_Nico watches him go until he’s out of sight, and there’s a nagging sense that maybe another piece of Nico went with him, too._

“How long has he been gone now?” Piper asks.

Nico sighs into his hand. “Three weeks.”

“It’s still kinda early, then.”

“I guess.” Piper gives him a look and Nico frowns in defeat. “It feels a lot longer than that.”

“Aww,” Piper teases him with a grin and Nico tells her that she’s lucky there’s nothing around for him to throw at her.

“I just mean that something feels off!” Nico growls. “The whole thing is weird.”

“Says the boy that’s been a corn plant.”

Nico’s frown deepens. She’s got him there.

He stands up abruptly and wipes the dirt off of his dark jeans. Piper pouts. “Where are you going?”

“Infirmary,” Nico mutters.

“Aww.” Piper grins and Nico tells her he’s going to find something to throw at her later.

The infirmary is quiet but full. There’s a somber feeling settled into its walls that seem duller than they used to. Three Apollo campers are tending to the ill with cold towels and ambrosia. They look tired and worn out; it’s a look that Nico’s seen Will wear many times.

Nico sits down beside one of the beds and its occupant opens their eyes. Out of all of his siblings, Nico thinks that Kayla is most like Will. They’ve both got Apollo’s blue eyes and annoyingly warm heart. They’re the strangest mix of stubbornness and kindness. Kayla squints at him through her feverish haze and breathes out a sigh of relief. “Thank the gods,” she rasps out, “it’s only you. For a second, I thought the angel of death had come for me at last.”

Nico glowers. “Funny,” he says. “So funny that I forgot to laugh.”

Kayo cracks a grin. “All those skeletons you know and not one funny bone.”

Nico wrinkles his nose and a weak laugh escapes Kayla that tapers off into a cough. Nico is on his feet in a second and returns to her side with a glass of water.

“Thanks,” she croaks and raises it to her cracked lips.

“Drink slowly,” he tells her and she eyes him over the glass.

“Schist, not you, too,” she says. “Either I look even worse than I feel or one of the symptoms of this thing is that everyone sounds like my brother.”

Nico smiles as she sips at the water. “I’m insulted,” he says. “I’m not as annoying as your brother.”

“Debatable,” she tells him and sets the glass on the bedside table. “That sulking pout of yours is pretty annoying.”

Nico huffs. “Apparently, rude as hell is another symptom.”

“Apparently,” she agrees. “So what brings you here today? You know this is a quarantined zone, right?”

“I guess I’m an idiot.”

Kayla nods like that’s a given and then gestures to the cabinet. “Well, as long as you’re here you might as well go get Scrabble.”

Nico does and they play until the sun is setting and Kayla is drifting off. Neither of them kept score, but Nico tells her she won anyways. She gloats sleepily until her breathing evens out and Nico makes sure she’s tucked in and all the pieces are put away before he turns off the light and reluctantly returns to his cabin.

.

He’s running again. Something is after him, lurking just out of sight in the shadows, but it’s there and it’s coming and Nico tries to escape, calls for help, but, just like all the other nights, no one comes and it feels like dozens of hands are grabbing onto Nico and pulling him right back into the darkness no matter how much he struggles. For the briefest moment, Nico thinks he sees something glittering in the light above him, but then it’s gone and so is he.

He jerks awake and feels the ghosts of the fingers brushing his neck. He can’t sit still so he gets up and heads for the showers and stands underneath the water, imagining that he’s washing away the memory of his nightmare, too. The sun is only just beginning to peek over the horizon when he leaves the bathrooms and he wonders if Jason and Will can see it wherever they are.

He isn’t sure where else to go. He doesn’t want to back to his cabin. Piper is still asleep and Nico doesn’t dare to go knocking at the Aphrodite cabin’s door so early and receive a large earful for interrupting Drew’s beauty sleep. Clovis is definitely out. The Apollo cabin always welcomes him, but he feels weird being there without Will to act as a buffer. Percy and Annabeth are off at school. They wouldn’t be back for months. Jason is off building shrines and talking to forgotten gods. Reyna, Hazel, and Frank are so far away and he doesn’t think he can muster up enough energy to shadow travel to California. Yet, strangely, he doesn’t want to be alone.

That isn’t exactly a new feeling for him, but somehow it feels stronger now. Now that he knows how much better it is with friends, it makes it that much scarier when they all seem like they’re out of his reach. He hates it. He hates that they’re gone and he hates that all he can do about it is sit around and wait.

For the umpteenth time, Nico daydreams about fetching his sword and tracking down Will and the others and joining their quest whether they liked it or not. But then he remembers Will in front of his cabin in the rain with a sweet smile and sad eyes.

_If something happens to camp while I’m gone…_

And Nico sits right back down on the dewy grass. He watches the sun come up resolutely.

He won’t break Will’s promise and he won’t abandon camp when it’s so weak and even the enchantments protecting it are sporadically fading away. Not this time.

Nico goes through the motions of his day, but he’s not really there. Clovis offers to induce Nico into a nap, but Nico declines. He doesn’t want Clovis to see what’s been plaguing him and he doesn’t want him to know that it’s only been getting worse since Will left camp.

When he eventually tracks Piper down, she’s in her cabin and she’s packing. “Jason contacted me,” she says excitedly. “He’s pretty close and so I’m going to go meet him and help him out if I can. I’m not sure how long it’ll take.” Nico doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t want her to go, he realizes, as she zips up her duffle bag and smiles largely at him. “Apparently, he lost his glasses so I’m gonna grab him another pair of those, too. How he’s managed this long by himself I’ll never – Nico?”

Nico snaps out of his thoughts. “Huh? Oh, yeah, that’s great, Piper. Tell him I said hi.”

Piper looks at him sadly. “Nico…”

“Well, I’ll let you finish packing,” he interrupts. “I’m gonna go train for a bit.” He leaves before she can say anything.

He doesn’t go to the training grounds. Instead he goes to the little patch of trees and rests against one, ignoring how the bark digs into his skin.

Everyone has better things to do. Jason, Reyna, Percy, Annabeth, Will, Hazel, and now Piper, too. They’re all still moving forward while Nico’s staying still and it pisses him off to no end. He hates being stagnant. He hates that he’s become so reliant on other people. He hates…

He looks down at his feet and groans when he sees all the grass around him has died.

He hates that, too.

After dinner, Piper finds him again. “How was training?” she asks.

“Fine,” Nico lies. He’s sitting on a log at the campfire, pretending to be just as indifferent as he’s always been. He knows he’s doing a pretty shitty job at it. “I thought you were leaving.”

“Tomorrow morning,” she says.

Nico hums. “Good. Jason is hopeless without your help.”

Piper laughs. “Well, that’s true!” Her smile dies down. “Will you be all right?”

The question takes him by surprise. He blinks and lowers his s’more. “Yeah,” he lies again.

Piper frowns. “I know you’re lying.”

Nico scowls. “Am not.”

“Are too. I know that you hate feeling like you’re not doing anything. But you _are._ Camp needs you right now. We’re weak because of this stupid sickness and we know it. That’s why Will asked you to stay. He knows you’re strong enough to keep them all safe. That’s your job right now.”

Nico stares into the fire mutely.

Piper sighs and looks up at the sky. “Yanno, you promised Jason you would take care of yourself before he left. You promised Will you would take care of the others before he left. Does that mean I get a promise, too?”

He doubly scowls at her. “That’s not how that works.”

She laughs. “C’mon, it’s nothing big, I swear!”

Nico grunts.

“When Will comes back, promise me you’ll buck up and _tell_ him how you feel.”

“Would you just drop it already?”

“I’m not just talking about your huge, totally existent crush on him.” Piper winks. “I’m talking about how you feel in general. Like tell him about what’s been bugging you, tell him what’s been on your mind. He’ll help you.”

“Oh yeah? And how do you know that, O Wise McLean?”

Piper smirks victoriously. “Because he likes you, too.”

.

This time the darkness begins to take physical shape. A forest manifests around him and he has to watch for roots as he runs with failing strength. His heart is pounding crazily in his chest and his desire to _get away_ is overwhelming. There’s the same light shining ahead of him now. If only he can reach it, if only he could get there then this would all be over. Nico knows the answer to his dreams is up there. He thinks all his missing parts are up there, too.

But before he can make it, the ground opens right back up and the illusion disappears. He’s falling down again.

Nico wakes up with a nagging sense of failure and runs a hand through his damp hair. He wonders if this is what craziness feels like; thinking all of his problems can be fixed by finding the source of a light in a dream. In a world where craziness lunges for him at all directions, he can’t really be surprised.

Piper leaves around noon. She hugs Nico tightly and tells him to take care. “Be back soon,” she says. “Maybe I can hassle Jason into coming back for a visit. He’s missed this place.”

“Just make sure he doesn’t blind himself again,” Nico says passively.

He waves goodbye to her at the top of the hill. He’s not sure when the last time he felt this alone was.

He goes to the infirmary again and ignores the few Healers still in there who bark at him to get sterilized and wear a surgical mask. He plants himself next to Kayla. She’s looking worse than she did the other day. Her face is a sickly pale and she can barely keep her eyes open. Worry gnaws at him. What’s keeping Will so long? How much time did they have left?

He spends the day at her side and, even though they don’t talk much or play Scrabble, Nico somehow senses her gratitude.

Afterwards, he finds himself standing in front of the Hypnos cabin, fist hovering over the door but not moving. Suddenly, the door opens and a younger camper whose name always escapes him is standing there. “Oh,” she says, “hold on. Clovis! It’s for you.”

Clovis replaces his younger sister at the door, stretching out with a yawn. “Nico,” he greets. “What’s up?”

“I need a favor,” Nico says. “A sleep related one.”

“You’ve come to the right place, then,” Clovis tells him, a hand on his chest like he’s truly honored, and invites him in. “So what d’you need?”

Nico tells him about his dream, but he leaves out most of the parts that follow waking up. “I wake up before I can finish the dream,” he says instead, twisting his ring around his finger.

“So you want to stay asleep longer, that’s all?”

“Can you do that?”

Clovis nods proudly. He pats an empty bunk. “Lay down and I’ll see what I can do.”

Nico does and the moment he feels Clovis’s fingers lightly resting on his temples he falls in a deep sleep before he can tell Clovis not to peek at his dreams.

When he opens his eyes again, he’s in the same forest as before only this time he’s aware that he’s dreaming and he’s aware of Clovis’s presence somewhere around him even though he can’t see him. Curiously, he goes to touch one of the trees and it’s solid. The dream feels like it’s becoming more and more physical, real, and that’s what terrifies him.

Then there’s a noise that sends a cold chill rolling down Nico’s spine. It’s something raw and desperate and _pained_ and Nico’s legs are moving before he can help it. The light pulses ahead of him and he runs as fast as he can towards it, but the distance never seems to close.

This is usually where the ground fades away and the dreams ends, but Clovis is keeping him tied to it. Vaguely, Nico knows it’s _his_ dream and he should be able to have control over it, but someone in the distance is shouting out painfully again and Nico isn’t sure if he even wants to reach that light anymore.

Then the light fades and comes back fainter. It fades and reappears again and again, getting weaker. He can make out someone sitting on their knees. Light bursts from the hand holding their arm and all Nico manages to see is a familiar blue sweatshirt and a sliver of golden hair before the ground gives way again.

Nico wakes with a jolt. It’s darker in the Hypnos cabin. He must’ve been out longer than he thought. Clovis is watching him wordlessly. He’s seen. As Nico sits up and regains his bearings, Clovis whispers, “Was that… was that Will?”

Nico doesn’t answer right away. He smooths back his hair and lets out a slow exhale. “It doesn’t mean anything,” he says to the both of them. “I mean, it’s just a dream, right?”

Clovis nods but he looks as uncertain as Nico feels.

Nico stands. “Thanks for your help,” he mutters. “I have to go.”

“Nico!” Clovis calls after him as Nico’s hand rests on the door. “Maybe… maybe you should tell Chiron. Y-you know, just in case?”

Nico doesn’t remember if he even responded to him or not. He does remember fleeing to his cabin as quickly as he could. He pushes the door open with too much strength and it clashes against the wall loudly. Nico’s hands are strangely steady even though he feels anything but as he grabs his worn backpack and starts shoving what few belongings he has into it. A few shirts, pants, some drachmas, a flashlight, and other random crap that he just blindly reaches for.

His mind is frantically spinning a scenario where Lou Ellen, Cecil, and Will are in danger, hurt, alone. Nico’s heart twists. Maybe his dream is just a manifestation of all of his fears; being alone, being unable to help, being unable to do anything as his friends are taken away from him one by one. He’s lost so much in his life. He thinks of Hazel, Jason, and Reyna, of Percy, Annabeth, and Piper. Will, Lou Ellen, Cecil, Kayla. All of these pieces of himself that are missing along with them and that could never come back.

He zips up his backpack and slings it over his shoulder determinedly. His hand hovers an inch over his sword.

He’s not going to lose any more.

He grabs it and leaves his cabin without looking back. He almost doesn’t care if anyone sees him leaving, but everyone seems to have gone to bed. As he passes the Big House, he can see the back lights are on. The infirmary is still busy.

He trudges forward, readjusting the weight of his sword in his hand. He’s at the top of the hill, nearing the line of trees which mark the very edge of camp. He’s just about to be past the enchantments, just about to cross the line, when his feet come to a dead stop.

Nico tries to bring himself to move, but for some asinine reason he doesn’t. He stands still for what could have been a few minutes or longer, and looks over his shoulder, back at Camp Half-Blood with its weakened defenses and sleeping kids and sick demigods.

_If something happens…_

Nico tightens his grip on his sword momentarily before it goes lax and almost slips through his fingers. He grits his teeth, spins around on his heels, and starts walking back, spitting out every curse word in the various languages he knows.

.

In the morning, Nico feels groggy and uncomfortably warm. He drinks some water, but it hurts to swallow it down. There’s a weird pressure in his chest that wasn’t there yesterday and he rubs at it idly.

“You don’t look so good,” is Clovis’s greeting at breakfast. He’s sitting at the Hades table, nothing but concern in his eyes. “Are you feeling all right?”

“Fine,” Nico rasps and scowls at the sound of his own voice. It sounds empty, hollow, exactly like how he feels. He’s become transparent.

Clovis glances over his shoulder to ensure no one is paying them any attention before leaning in. “And did you talk to Chiron about your, um, dream?”

“No,” Nico states firmly. “And I’m not going to.”

Clovis bites his lower lip worriedly. “You’re not going to do anything brash, are you?”

Nico glares at him. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, I don’t know, like, go after him?”

Nico just huffs and raises his orange juice to his lips. “Someone’s got to keep this shit hole safe.”

Clovis gives him a little relieved smile. “We’re not completely hopeless, you know.”

“Yeah,” Nico muses, “I know.”

Kayla’s greeting to him is just as blunt. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks,” he manages before he collapses into the chair next to her bed.

Kayla raises an eyebrow. “What, no lame comeback? Are you feeling okay?”

“Fine,” Nico grumbles, eyes sliding shut. “Just tired.”

“Aren’t we all?” Kayla hums as she falls back asleep, too.

Nico’s dream is the same. Always the same. But now the knowledge of who is ahead of him, of who is making that light burn is haunting him. The ground disappears before he can get close, and it’s always, always the same.

.

He drags his feet through the grass as he’s on his way back to the Hades cabin. He vaguely wonders if he has a fever and he doesn’t want to think about what that implies. He can’t get sick. Not now.

He’s just about to go inside when Chiron finds him. It’s an unexpected visit and something about the grave look in his eyes makes Nico’s stomach churn unsettlingly. “What is it?” he asks and his voice cracks painfully.

Chiron seems reluctant to fill him in, but he relents. “The Dryads came to me just moments ago. They said they saw three people walking towards camp, but they were attacked by something else.”

Nico’s hand instinctively twitched towards his sword. “A monster?”

Chiron nods. “And close.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

The centaur sighs like that was what he was afraid of. “We have others who can help.”

It’s stretching the truth a bit. Nico knows there are some capable demigods still here, but they’re all too young and too inexperienced. Nico doesn’t want to gamble with any lives. “I’ll take care of it,” he repeats and Chiron doesn’t argue again.

“Be careful,” he says, “please.”

Nico nods before he draws his sword and heads off in the direction Chiron points to.

The forest is dark. The shadows make everything seem larger. The trees loom taller. He tries not to draw the parallels between this and his dream because this is _real._ He can feel the night chill breezing past him and he can smell the pines and he can _definitely_ sense that something is happening just ahead of him.

Just as he’s creeping along, avoiding as many fallen twigs as possible, there’s a small burst of light ahead of him. Everything after that kicks into overdrive.

He hastens into a run. He hears the sound of metal clashing, muffled shouts, and then there’s another flash of light and Nico pushes himself to go faster. His lungs are burning, his body is aching in protest, but the ground isn’t fading away this time.

At the third flash of light, Nico feels something come rushing back, like something suddenly woke up inside of him and maybe he’s not as empty as he thought. His sword is much lighter in his hand and the ache in his legs falls second to this burning mix of adrenaline and determination.

And then Nico reaches a clearing. He sees Lou Ellen and Cecil first, lying on the ground and not moving. Not dead, he tells himself. He sees the monster second, a big beast who has someone pinned to the ground. A hand desperately searches through the leaves, mere inches away from a familiar quiver.

Nico doesn’t stop running until he can dig his sword into the monster’s back. It lets out a roar, but Nico’s garnered its attention. He rolls out of the way of a wide swing, jabbing at its legs as he slides onto his feet again.  The monster catches his next movement, dodges at the last moment, and Nico topples off balance and hits the ground.  He turns just before the beast's fists can smash into his skull and stabs its shoulder with all his might.

The monster growls and stands upright, bringing Nico right along with it as he holds onto his blade.  He kicks as he struggles to free his weapon, avoiding the ravenous hands that are swatting at him.  A large hand grasps onto his leg and he gasps in pain.  Suddenly, his sword gives way and he hits the dirt again.  The wind is knocked out of him and his leg is hurting and his head is pounding, but he brings himself up, ready to attack again.  He refuses to give up as long as the others are incapacitated. "C'mon," he taunts and brandishes his sword with a challenge in his eyes.

The monster straightens, breathes out heavily through its nose, and then stills in mid-charge and falls to the ground with an arrow in the back of its neck.

Will Solace is standing a few yards behind it, posture still fixed in a perfect archer’s stance with his bow upright and something cold and unforgiving in his eyes. Nico’s heart skips a beat at the sight of it, either with fear or something else more terrifying to name, but it’s gone in a millisecond, replaced with the same warmth that Will’s always shown. “Nico,” he breathes out.

“Solace,” he answers. He’s still breathing harder than he normally would and the tightness in his chest is bordering on painful.

Cecil gives a faint groan on the forest floor and Will’s attention is immediately captured by his injured friends. He drops to their side at once, asking a flood of questions, shaking their shoulders. With a start, Nico sees that Will’s hands and a few fingers were wrapped in bandages, burnt from over-healing. Nico hobbles over, coughing into his sleeve.

“‘M’alright,” Cecil is muttering as he sits up. “Damn thing snuck up on me.”

“We’re almost back,” Will assures him. “Nearly there.”

Cecil’s expression becomes brighter. He nudges Lou Ellen with his foot. “You hear that, Lou? Wake up. We’re home.”

Lou Ellen gives a muffled reply that sounds like, _“Gimme a minute.”_

Will heaves a huge relieved sigh and promptly falls back to lie on the leaves. “I think I need a minute, too,” he exclaims as he closes his eyes. “That was scary.”

Nico could comment on how intimidating Will just looked less than two minutes ago, staring down the length of his arrow with unfeeling calculation, but he’s too busy marveling over the fact that they’re _here._ He opens his mouth to ask how the quest went, if they found a cure, but a sharp cough escapes him instead and Will responds to it like a dog to a whistle.

“How long have you had that cough?”

“Are – you – serious?” Nico huffs between his hacking fit. “Back for two minutes and you’re already,” he coughs again, “nagging me?”

Will offers him a shameless, lop-sided smile that makes his eyes crinkle at the edges. There’s a long cut across his freckled cheek and his hair is dirty and caked with dried mud. Nico’s hands itch with the desire to brush it away.

There’s definitely something beating in his chest now.

Will carries Lou Ellen on his back and Nico’s got Cecil on his as they make their way back to camp. Cecil’s weight is suffocating and, even healthy, Nico would be struggling. “Put your back into it,” Cecil mumbles weakly. “Use your knees.”

“If you can joke, you can walk,” Nico hisses through his teeth and Cecil stays quiet after that.

Will’s arm keeps brushing his with every few steps. It’s probably unintentional, but it still makes something in Nico flutter. “Thank you,” Will says after a few beats of silence, “for back there. You really saved us.”

Nico flushes. “I really didn’t even do that much.”

“You gave us a fighting chance.”

Nico decides to change the subject. “Did you find it?” he asks instead.

Will’s grin is blinding. “We found it.”

The moment they clamber into the infirmary and drop Lou Ellen and Cecil onto the last two empty beds in the house, Nico feels a rush of wooziness hit him. Will’s hands are on his shoulders, steadying him, and Nico hears him talk but can’t make out the words. Black spots dance around in his vision before he collapses.

He doesn’t have a single dream.

.

When he opens his eyes, there’s daylight and the infirmary is significantly emptier than before. Kayla’s bed is empty, too, he realizes with a start. He tries to sit up but someone tuts at him and pushes him right back down.

“Yeah, no,” Will Solace tells him with a look in his eyes that means Nico is in trouble. He sinks back into the covers sulkily. Will drags the chair from Kayla’s bed over to Nico’s and plops down in it backwards. “You get a fever hot enough to cook an egg on your forehead and you go chasing after monsters?” Will huffs. “I don’t know if I should be impressed or concerned. You could’ve really gotten yourself hurt, you know.”

Nico groans. “What happened to all that gratitude you were showing last night?”

Will pouts. “That was before I found out you got sick! Probably from spending so much time in here. Didn’t I warn you?”

“You did,” Nico assures him. “I just didn’t listen to you.”

Will rolls his eyes. “I don’t know why I expected anything different.”

“Where is everyone?” He looks around the infirmary and after weeks of seeing it exceed capacity, it’s sort of chilling to see it so empty now.

“Out enjoying the fresh air.” Will sounds happy and there’s a satisfied smile hanging, barely there, on his face. Nico thinks Will’s earned the right to be a little smug.

“Congratulations,” Nico tells him.

Will’s hand goes up to rub at his neck. “It really wasn’t easy, but Lou and Cecil shouldered a lot of the weight.”

“What happened?”

Will blows out a sigh. “Let’s just say I had the weirdest family reunion ever.”

The curiosity is still burning. He wants to know all of the details of Will’s quest, wants filled in on everything that’s been happening in that godly side of their life since he’s been babysitting, but he lets the subject drop for now. Will doesn’t seem very keen on talking about it.

As if reading his mind, Will smiles a bit self-deprecatingly and raises his shoulders. “I don’t want to do anything like that again,” he admits sheepishly. “The quest wasn’t that _bad_ or anything, but the pressure.” He lets out a low whistle. “Not knowing what was going on back here was eating me alive. I couldn’t sleep half the time. I was constantly freaking out that we wouldn’t find the cure in time. Or at all. Seriously, it was exhausting.”

“But you did it.”

Will’s face brightens a little. “Yeah,” he whispers, “I guess I did.”

“And now everyone’s healed.”

Will hums in affirmation. “More or less.”  He twiddles his thumbs, which brings Nico’s attention back to his hands. His palms and fingers are wrapped up in clean bandages, but a few angry red blisters peek out between the gaps.

“Your hands,” he blurts out and Will immediately hides them in his sweatshirt’s pockets.

“I’m fine,” he says and it pisses Nico off.

“It’s from healing, isn’t it?” He sits up now that Will doesn’t dare move his hands. His head is still a little heavy, but the pressure is nowhere near as bad as before. “It’s kind of like when I shadow-travel too much.”

Will shakes his head. “You almost fading out of existence and me getting a few burns aren’t the same thing. It’s really a small price to pay,” he says, but he doesn’t meet Nico’s eyes. “I can take someone’s pain away, ease the burden, yanno? But the burden has to go somewhere, I guess.”

 _What about you?_ Nico wants to ask. _What about your burdens? Why are you always trying to fix everything?_ The muscle in his jaw jumps.

“It’s all I really know what to do,” Will admits softly and Nico’s anger intensifies.

“That’s bullshit,” he snaps and Will flinches.

 _“Excuse_ me?”

“It is,” Nico continues. “Everyone has messes, Solace. You can’t clean them all up for them.”

Will frowns at him. “So I should’ve just let everyone stay sick, is that it? I shouldn’t have gone on that quest to help them?”

“No!” Nico growls. “No, that’s not what I meant! I just meant… You have to think of yourself for once, too.”

The storm clears in Will’s eyes. “Aw,” he sings, “are you worried about me?”

Nico glowers at him. “What, so you can nag _me_ about my health until my ears bleed but I’m not allowed to nag you about yours?” he reasons. “I just hate hypocrites.”

Will’s laugh sends his stomach aflutter and that’s something else he hasn’t felt in a while. “You’re right,” he says so easily that it stuns Nico silent. “That’s fair.”

Nico purses his lips together to squash the smile threatening to spread across his cheeks.

“So shall I spill all of my deepest, darkest secrets to you?” Will drawls with a hand on his chest. He tips his head back dramatically. “Pour my heart out and – _wah!”_ Nico watches with great satisfaction as Will topples over in his chair and lands on the ground with a harsh clatter.

“You were saying?” Nico gloats as Will picks himself back up. “No, really, do go on.”

He sends Nico a withering look before settling back in his chair. “Smug bastard.”

Nico doesn’t disagree, but he notes that Will looks significantly happier than before. Nico expressing concern for him seems to have cheered the son of Apollo right up. Maybe he’s even been waiting for it. Slowly it dawns on him that it’s probably the same thing Nico’s been waiting for, too.

Then it makes sense. Will’s always helping others because he wants to be helped, too. Nico knows Will’s loved by the whole camp, but there are only a select few who know him well enough to see that maybe he’s missing a few pieces, too.

“You can talk to me, you know,” Nico says uncertainly. “If you ever need anything.”

Something about the way Will stares at him makes him feel something he doesn’t know how to describe. “You know that goes double for you, too, right?”

Nico nods as his cheeks flare up. It’s a good feeling, he decides, to have someone waiting for him.

“I should go,” Will says distantly, like he doesn’t really want to. “I’m supposed to talk to Chiron. I wanted to wait until after you woke up though.”

“Why?”

Will doesn’t answer. He stands, stretches, and ambles towards the door. “You can go whenever you’re ready,” he calls back. “Asclepius’s cure cleared you up immediately, but it still looked like you needed to rest. Clovis told me you had trouble sleeping.”

The happy feeling is gone. “Did he?” he fumes.

Will glances over his shoulder. “Thank you,” he breathes out, “for keeping them all safe.”

Then he leaves, but Nico doesn’t feel alone one bit.

.

“You _told_ him?”

Clovis jumps from his spot underneath a shaded tree, spinning around as Nico glares down at him, arms crossed. Clovis holds his hands up defensively. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! He was all pouty and upset and started worrying when you didn’t wake up right away after he gave you the cure. I only told him that you were probably just sleeping since you’ve been so exhausted lately.”

“And that’s _all_ you told him?”

Clovis bites his lower lip.

_“Clovis.”_

“I, uh… Heh.” The son of Hypnos taps his two index fingers together. “I might’ve told him about your dream, too?”

Nico curses. “That’s why he was being so nice earlier.”

“Eh?”

“He let me leave the infirmary without checking me first. He _never_ just lets me go.”

“Or maybe he was being nice because he missed you?”

“No, he feels sorry for me,” Nico hisses. “Of course that’s what that was.”

“You’re hopeless,” Clovis mutters, deadpan, but Will settles himself firmly beside Nico before he can retort, and while the Dryads serving them huff at the blatant display of rule-breaking they don’t say anything.

Nico delivers a sharp glare to Clovis, silently telling him that he isn’t done with him yet. Will glances between them and freezes in mid-bite. “Did I… interrupt something?”

“No,” Clovis says.

“Yes,” Nico grits out at the same time.

Will raises an eyebrow. “I see.”

The tension festers until Clovis clears his throat. “So are we going to get to hear about your big adventure or are we going to have to wait for a blind poet to write it for you?”

Will rolls his eyes but sets his sandwich down and nods. “All right. Story time.” Nico frowns as his curiosity gets the best of him. He finds himself leaning in expectantly when Will spreads his hands out in front of them. “So first we decided the best course of action would be to track down my dad, right? God of medicine and plague and all that? Turns out he’s living in a studio apartment in Manhattan working on a really traumatizing art project, which will not be talked about in detail ever. Anyways, he tells us that he doesn’t know what could’ve caused such a disease, but he knew of an infallible cure that could cleanse any ailment. It’s like what the Holy Grail is to other cups.  Of course, he doesn’t have it, but his son does.”

“His _favorite_ son,” Cecil cuts in, sliding into the table next to Clovis. There’s a bandage on his cheek and a bit of his hair is singed. It’s still smoking. “Will pouted for days.”

Will scoffs. “I did not.”

“Pouts for days!”

“Anyways!” Will interrupts loudly. “We had to track down Asclepius. He’s technically the actual god of healing, and Dad doesn’t want to admit that he’s better at it than he is.”

“Asclepius knows his stuff,” Cecil continues. “He’s Olympus’s go-to guy whenever there’s a medical problem.”

“The gods get sick?” Clovis asks.

“Nah, they just curse each other a lot,” Cecil says brightly. “Asclepius always saves the day though,” he adds with a smirk towards Will, who just takes in a deep breath and lets it out again.

“Back to the quest,” he manages to say evenly, “we found Asclepius and he sent us to talk to his daughter, Iaso. She’s the goddess of recuperation, and turns out she’s the one who has the secret to how to make the cure. But, of course, she wanted something in return.”

“What was it?”

Will groans. “The rod of Asclepius.”

“She was peeved off because apparently someone stole her dad’s staff.” Cecil shrugs. “Big family heirloom.”

“Yeah, and you wanna know _who_ stole it?” Will asks in a bitter tone, glaring straight at Cecil.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Cecil makes a time-out sign. “Hermes was totally uninvolved. Just because one his employees accidentally shipped the wrong package to the wrong place—”

“In any case, we had to track that down, which took forever. Some nymphs had it and we had to convince them to give it to us.”

“How’d you manage that?” Nico questions.

“There may have been dance-offs,” Will sighs. “And eating contests.”

“Followed by a sudden death battle royale between us and a freaking giant.”

“Yeah, their contests went from zero to a hundred really quick,” Will agrees. “But, we did it and they gave us the staff, which we gave to Iaso, who gave it to Asclepius, who allowed her to give us the cure. Then we hauled ass back to camp and got ambushed by Beast Man back there.”

Cecil holds his head, flinching at the memory.

“Then you showed up!” Will elbows Nico happily. “And that’s pretty much it. End of quest.”

“So you never found out what caused the disease?” Nico tries to block out the swarm of nerves from Will’s touch.

Cecil shook his head. “Nope.”

“As long as everyone is cured, I’m fine,” Will interjects.

Clovis nods, Cecil is smiling, and Nico forgets to scowl. They finish eating and go their separate ways for the night.

Later, once Nico is in bed, he tosses and he turns for two grueling hours before drifting into an uneasy sleep. He doesn’t really dream of anything corporeal. There are just flashes of things; like Bianca braiding her hair and a broken Mythomagic figurine resting in the palm of his hand, Tartarus and its terrible occupants too timeless to name, Jason leaving and Piper, too, and never coming back, Will laughing and then an empty chair next to an infirmary bed.

He opens his eyes and feels defeated but unsurprised.

.

“My head hurts.”

Will looks up from his book with wide eyes. Nico crosses his arms defiantly, waiting. Will just blinks at him.

“I said my head hurts, Solace.”

“I heard you,” Will replies.

“Then why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s just… I think that’s the first time I ever heard you actually admit something was wrong.” Will cracks a grin before he stands and he’s all professional again. “How long have you had it?”

“It feels like weeks.”

Will hums. He’s already reaching into the medicine cabinet. “On a scale of one to ten, how painful is it?”

“It’s not…” Nico sighs. “It’s not, like, a physical pain.”

Will pauses and glances back at him. He’s completely taken aback, Nico can see it, but he still cocks his head to one side. “Oh. Well, then, what’s up?”

Nico shrinks in on himself, eyes falling timidly. “It’s… complicated.”

Will sits down and throws his arms behind his head. “I’ve got time.” When Nico doesn’t say anything he kicks out a spare chair from underneath the table and pats it. “Sit.”

Nico does and Will waits patiently for Nico to find the right words. “I’m thinking too much,” he declares at last. “It’s like there’s all this stuff going on in my head that I’m not ever aware of half the time and when I go to sleep it’s like everything rushes out at once.   I just… how do I make them stop?”

Will sits upright, which means he’s taking this seriously and Nico’s grateful. “What kinds of things are you thinking of?”

“Random things, but they’re all things I didn’t want to happen, or things I don’t want to happen.”

Will nods. “Clovis told me you had the same nightmare for weeks.” Nico dodges his eyes. “He said that you were dreaming that I was hurt.”

“That would fall under the ‘don’t want to happen’ part,” Nico mutters embarrassedly.

Will nods again, and he looks so happy it embarrasses him even more. “I get the feeling that you’re not exactly looking for my medical opinion.”

Nico’s shoulders are raised high and there’s a sour look on his face. It’s his natural defense, to look annoyed, but Will’s immune and he’s left feeling that transparency again.

Will just laughs. “You’re going to pinch a nerve if you stay that tense all the time, you know. It’s okay. It’s actually… sweet.”

Nico hides his face in his hands. “Don’t make me hit you.”

“Look, Nico, it’s all right. Do you know how many demigods I see here on a weekly average who are suffering from more or less the same thing?” Will pauses. “It just means that you’re going through something. It’s not because you’re broken or crazy or any of that. It’s all right to care about other people.”

“But,” Nico falters because how can he say this without making an utter fool of himself?

“I don’t like speaking for other people,” Will continues, “but I’m pretty certain they all feel the same. You have friends, people that care, and they aren’t going to leave you behind.”

The nail’s hit right on the head. Nico flinches because that’s what it’s always been, hasn’t it? The fear of abandonment. He’s felt it so much in his life, but to hear it aloud, like a confirmation of all the horrible things he’s been seeing, it’s almost too much.

Will is sitting so close to him that their arms brush together. _“I’m_ not going to leave you behind.”

“Sometimes you don’t always get to choose,” Nico rasps around the lump in his throat.

“You’re right,” Will concedes. “Sometimes things happen that we can’t control. But we can control how we react to them and how we let them shape who we are. It’s like… it’s like when Lee and Michael died…” Will trails off, but Nico raises his head. “It was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through,” he admits, “but I had to keep it together for everyone else. But afterwards? I don’t think I left my bed for days. And, now, whenever I hold a bow or a sword I just keep imagining… what it must have been like for them before they died. I see them every time there’s a weapon in my hand, and the thought of using it to hurt someone else – like how they were hurt – well, it’s gotten to the point where I don’t even want to kill monsters. Pretty pathetic, huh?”

Nico listens closely and is hit with the oddest urge to touch the other boy. “No,” he states firmly. “It’s not pathetic at all.”

Will’s smile is brief. He’s unraveling himself so that Nico can tie himself together, and Nico doesn’t want that. He doesn’t want this to be give and take. Will’s been doing that for far too long. If Will is going to shoulder the burden of everyone in camp, then Nico will be the one who shoulders his. “That monster from before, in the woods,” Will breathes out, “we ran into him earlier in our quest. He was after Asclepius’s rod. In the hands of a healer, the rod is the ultimate tool. If something darker wanted it, I’m not sure what else it could cause. A pandemic we could never cure, probably. But, instead of taking care of him then and there, I just set a trap and left. Then he broke free and caught up with us eventually. If I had been able to make that call then Cecil and Lou Ellen wouldn’t have gotten hurt. We wouldn’t have almost been killed.”

Nico feels another piece in him wake up the moment his hand touches Will’s shoulder. “And that makes you feel weak? Will, I don’t know many demigods who would’ve done what you did. To spare a life in the middle of a quest like that, with all the pressure on your shoulders to make the right decision. You did what you thought was right and you should stick to it.”

“I thought I was supposed to be the one making you feel better,” Will teases softly.

“You are,” Nico promises. “But it looks like we both have some things to let out?”

Will chuckles. “Looks that way.”

Nico doesn’t know how long they sit there and talk. Nico tells him things he’s never told another living soul. He tells him all about Bianca and about Percy and it takes a little more effort to get through Tartarus and the end of Gaea’s quest, but he does and whatever else was still asleep inside of him starts to wake up again.

Will listens and he talks, too, about insecurities and uncertainties and responsibilities he’s never wanted but now wouldn’t trade away. The whole time Nico’s heart is beating with a sense of rightness.

It's as though Nico spent years thinking he could never stitch his broken pieces back together and all the while Will was handing him the needle. Piece by piece, he threads himself back together like patchwork quilt and when Will declares that he’s too hungry to talk anymore Nico holds out a hand to help him up. It takes them a few moments to drop each other’s hand again.

.

Things change after that. Nico’s a bit apprehensive after their long heart-to-heart because Will knows too much now and that makes him dangerous in a way he’s never been before. Nico has never placed such blind trust into somebody, but Will never gives him a reason to regret it. Nico has leverage; he knows things about Will now, too, and he has to admit that he likes how it feels to have someone leaning on him for support. He likes how it feels to be able to get a feeling on what’s going on in the healer’s head and being able to guess if something is wrong.

They’re able to read each other more clearly and it makes seeing the hidden intentions behind their actions as simple as spelling it out. That’s not to say that they still don’t get under each other’s skin, however.

Such as, one day, at breakfast when Will and Nico bicker over whether orange or grape juice is better.

“Vitamin C is important,” Will argues.

“Grape tastes better,” Nico reasons.

“Just get a room already,” Clovis mutters into his pancake.

“I like apple,” Kayla intercedes and is ignored.

Nico goes off to the training grounds to blow off steam while Will takes his shift at the infirmary. He’s teaching two young campers how to parry properly and it’s hard to keep his patience in check when all the ten year olds want to do is goof around and try to spin their swords like batons. But it all pays off when one of them actually nearly manages it, countermoves against the other’s half-hearted swing. Forgetting where he is, he throws his hands up. “Yes, like that! Good!” he blurts excitedly and the kid gives him a big smile at the praise.

He feels proud until the other two think it would be funny if they ganged up on him and Nico’s so taken aback that they run him into the ground before he can think to move.

When he finally escapes, his head is throbbing from where one of them head-butted him and he wants only a shower. He crosses camp towards the showers when someone calls out, “You know, you’re surprisingly good with kids.”

Nico shoots a glare to where Will sits on the porch railing of the Big House. “They tried to maim me,” he corrects.

“But you didn’t maim back,” Will points out. “I’m so proud.”

“Bite me, Solace.”

Will laughs, jumps to his feet, and gestures his head towards the house. “Come on, I’ll get you fixed up. That’s a pretty tall lump on your head, there. It’s like a cartoon. Seriously.”

Nico’s hand goes to it and winces, but he follows Will anyways. The infirmary is empty. Nico likes it better this way. He hops up on the table Will usually frequents while the son of Apollo gets him an ice pack from the freezer. “This’ll take care of the swelling,” Will says and guides it to the bump carefully.

Nico lurches away the moment it touches his skin. “Fuck, that’s cold!”

“Is it really?” Will asks dryly and pulls him forward again. “Stay still.”

Nico obeys and replaces Will’s hand with his once the ice pack is back on his head. He frowns. He’s at equal height with Will like this and it’s damn depressing.

“What?” Will’s cheeks are red under Nico’s stare.

“You’re so tall,” Nico complains. “It’s not fair.”

“I swear if you ask me what the weather is like up here I’m gonna hand you back over to those kids to finish you off.”

Nico’s lips twitch. He can’t exactly guess why, but something about their situation is making him feel bold. Will is standing close to him, much more than usual. If anyone else was in the room, Nico’s certain Will wouldn’t be this close to him. Maybe it’s because they’re alone, or maybe it’s because the of way Will’s standing, but Nico is pretty certain that Will _likes_ him, too.

“Oh, was that a smile?” Will taunts. “I should’ve brought my magnifying glass. I almost missed it!”

“Shut up.”

Will inches closer and their knees touch. “It’s a nice smile,” he assures. “You should really do it more often. For your health.”

Nico flushes at the compliment. “It’s not as nice as yours.”

Will blinks, laughing nervously. “I didn’t think you hit your head _that_ hard. Was that an actual compliment from the Ghost King?”

Nico has to restrain himself very, very hard from cuffing him over the head. He winces when he accidentally shifts the ice too hard and the mirth fades from Will’s eyes.

“If it hurts that much I can just heal it,” Will says. “No big deal.”

“No,” Nico tells him at once.

Will pouts in that cute way that he does and Nico doesn’t know what to do with all these weird feelings turning his stomach upside down. He knows what he would _like_ to do, though.

“But if it makes it feel better,” Will starts to protest but Nico cuts him off.

“I know something else that’ll make it feel better,” he whispers and his tone is more confident than he feels, but Will reacts to it. His eyes widen and his cheeks are a bright pink, but there aren’t any reservations in his incredibly clear blue eyes so Nico leans forward and he’s almost knocked backwards by the amount of enthusiasm Will responds with when their lips finally meet.

Vaguely, Nico’s aware that it’s his first kiss and he’s aware that he’s covered in dirt and sweat and that they’re in a place that smells like bleach and artificial fresheners, but all of that falls second to the way Will is holding his face and running his thumbs along his cheeks. Nico doesn’t know when the ice pack falls from his fingers, but suddenly they’re in Will’s hair, pulling him closer.

Will pulls away first, breathing a little irregularly and staring at him like he can’t believe his eyes. Nico watches how the setting sun catches Will’s hair and illuminates his features softly. He’s hit with a desire to run his thumb over Will’s freckles, so he does, and doesn’t expect the sigh that falls from Will’s lips and the way he leans into Nico’s palm.

“Dammit,” Will mumbles like he’s angry at himself.

“What?” Nico asks because he’s new at this kissing thing, but he doesn’t think that’s a good thing to hear after he kisses someone.

But Will gives him a smile so warm that it disperses those thoughts immediately. “I was sort of hoping I could be the smooth one.”

.

Their friends don’t even react when they show up at dinner with intertwined fingers beyond a few exchanged Drachmas. Nico doesn’t react, either, until Cecil mournfully surrenders all of the golden coins into Will’s upturned palm and the son of Hades gawks at him in surprise.

“They’ve had a pool going for months,” Will explains under his breath, “on whether or not I’d have to guts to say something to you. I kept betting for myself, but I always lost.” He holds up his first. “Until today.”

Nico’s face is as red as his soup for the rest of the night, but it’s a good feeling. It’s something he wants to pursue.

After that, it’s fact. Will Solace is where Nico di Angelo is, and vice versa. Nico sits on the counter in the infirmary while Will works. Will sits underneath the shade with a book while Nico teaches the younger campers how to spar. During campfires they’re careful not to touch too much, but no one seems to care if Will has his arm thrown over Nico’s shoulders. Nico becomes acquainted with the Apollo cabin more than he ever had a wish to, and attends their strange ‘family rap battles’ with an even stranger feeling of pride. They spend more time in the Hades cabin, just sitting and talking and kissing.

“Almost summer,” Will comments one day as he commandeers Nico’s bed. He’s throwing a bouncy ball up and catching it again.

Nico sits on the edge as he ties his shoes. “Yeah.”

“Camp Jupiter is going to be visiting soon.”

“Mmhm.”

“Excited to see everyone?”

Nico nods with a solidary smile. “I missed them all a lot,” he admits because it’s easy to with Will.

“Same,” he remarks. “I haven’t seen Pollux so excited in a while either. He and Dakota get along really well.”

“I can imagine,” Nico says and the two of them fall silent to their own thoughts. “We should ask Pollux to team up with us next time,” he adds, “for Capture the Flag.”

Will smiles. “Yeah, that’s an excellent idea.” He yawns and stretches out. “We should probably go to lunch.” He doesn’t sound very disposed to moving.

Nico frowns and pauses with his laces. “Or we could not.”

That’s definitely the answer Will was looking for. “Yet another excellent idea, di Angelo.”

Nico falls into Will’s waiting arms and kicks off his shoes again, only grumbling against the other’s persistent kisses to his cheek for appearances’ sake. Eventually, Will frees him and they end up napping straight until dinnertime. Nico dreams of a dark space and fatigued limbs, but then he feels something warm nuzzle at his neck and the dream settles into something more bearable. He dreams of summer in a few weeks’ time and Will on the top of Half-Blood Hill and ushering him up. He’s not alone; Jason and Piper are there, and so are Clovis and Kayla, and Lou Ellen and Cecil. “The Romans are here!” Will calls down to him. “Come on, lazy bones!”

Nico runs to welcome them back, straight up to where Will and everyone else is waiting for him. His heart beats strongly and his legs burn slightly as he goes. Only, this time, the ground underneath his feet is solid, and he doesn’t stop.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy weekend, students! It's been a hard week and I'm tired AF, so I wrote a therapeutic 10k word fanfic. Enjoy your time off; love yourself and don't take advanced German grammar classes. ;A; Um gute Noten zu haben, muss man viel weinen.
> 
> tumblr; [ghostystarr](http://ghostystarr.tumblr.com)


End file.
